Nurse charged with abusing Norwood patient

WISCONSIN RAPIDS - A nurse at Norwood Health Care Center pulled a patient's hair and tried to force pills that had fallen onto the floor into another patient's mouth, according to prosecutors.

Rosemary C. Carlson, 60, of Arpin, is charged with intentionally abusing a patient. She made her initial appearance in Wood County Circuit Court Monday morning.

Carlson was a nurse working at Norwood Health Care Center, 1600 N. Chestnut Ave., Marshfield, Oct. 20, when another nurse saw Carlson pulling the hair of a man with a traumatic brain injury, according to court documents. The coworker said she heard Carlson tell the patient that if he acted like a 2-year-old, Carlson would treat him like a 2-year-old, according to documents.

When Carlson left the patient's room, she said to the second nurse, "That's what you do; you pull hair so there are no bruises," according to documents.

The next day, the same nurse was working with Carlson in the traumatic brain injury department when the coworker heard sounds coming from a patient's room. The nurse walked into the room and saw Carlson trying to force-feed medication to a patient by prying open his mouth, according to court documents. The patient spit the pills onto the floor, and Carlson picked them up and against tried to stuff them into his mouth, according to the documents.

The second nurse tried to get Carlson to stop by telling her that the man took his pills with pudding, but Carlson refused to stop forcing the medication into the man's mouth, according to court documents. As Carlson, the second nurse and a certified nursing assistant were leaving the patient's room, Carlson warned the other two not to "breathe a word" about what happened, according to court documents.

Wood County Circuit Judge Greg Potter set a $2,500 signature bond for Carlson and transferred the case to Wood County Circuit Judge Nicholas Brazeau Jr. for further proceedings.